DESCRIPTION (adapted from the application): The Nutrient-Gene Core has the overall objective of keeping abreast of developments in the availability and use of mouse models that can be used to evaluate nutrient-gene interactions, and of working with CNRU Affiliate Investigators to design studies using mouse models and mouse genetics. The Nutrient-Gene Subcore of the CNRU was created during the last funding cycle. It was designed to make use of the powerful system of mouse genetics to identify new genes and to study the etiology of diseases homologous to those seen in humans. Dozens of mutant strains already exist which express susceptibility to diabetes, atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, and other single and multigenic disorders. The influence of specific drugs and nutrients on the expression of these phenotypes is an useful approach to test mechanisms of diseases and targeted therapies. With the advent of genetic engineering in the mouse, dozens of new mutant strains have become available in which single genes are either overexpressed or deleted, yielding new possibilities for examining nutrient-gene interactions. Also, the plethora of informative genetic markers for specific chromosomal regions is allowing the rapid identification of new genes via positional cloning approaches. Because of the importance of this area of research, and as a result of considerable utilization, this Core has evolved from the Nutrient-Gene Subcore of the Laboratory Core during the present funding period.